The BC NDP, backed by the Green Party, will form a government that will devastate several segments of Western Canada’s oil and gas industry – at a time when the industry is still in bad shape. Mission number one for the anti-industry parties is to take all measures possible to stop the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion. Ultimately, this will add another layer to a situation where several jurisdictions (including the City of Vancouver) have already vowed to fight, to the point of being arrested, to stop the project.
And for any pro-oil and gas Canadian, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her NDP MLA’s deserve as much blame for this situation as their counterparts in BC.
For decades, NDP leadership in Alberta has supported, protested alongside, financed, and campaigned for New Democrats in BC. Voters can’t simply forget actions in the past simply because the governing NDP in Alberta suddenly supports pipelines. One or two statements, maybe, but a lifetime of lobbying against the oil industry and propping up buddies? What about the carbon tax and obtaining the elusive ‘social licence’? How’s that working out for Ms. Notley? Surely that should sway NDP political counterparts in BC?
It is ironic how Rachel Notley and the NDP spent decades slamming the industry they so desperately need now to fund their social programs, and prior to assuming office, that helped plant all these seeds which have sprouted at the exact moment the NDP need the very projects they were against.
Through it all, it is clear that the chickens have come home to roost. Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP, along with the BC NDP/Green coalition, need to start better representing (or start to in BC’s case) the electorate in supporting positive economic growth in each province’s oil and gas industry.